Observation! (14 Viewers)

Captain Dart

Well-Known Member
In that case what you're really saying is that as long as something is commercially feasible then it should be accepted. The problem with that, is that if our owners say that something is commerically necessary, you've got to take it on the chin or (politely) look like a hypocrite.

The commercial driver for Wasps leaving Wycombe was because they only got 15% of matchday revenue. That's exactly the same as CCFC get at the moment from the Ricoh. What's your argument for us remaining there?

I think they moved partially because of the limitation on crowds and rugby spend per head was nearly £7 in Wasps last accounts, football crowd spend per head is much lower (cause you can't drink in the Arena).

However I think you've been taken in by Fishers words as OSB pointed out in a recent post 15% on F&B is a profit margin not a turnover, that's not absolutely awful as even at Highfield Road the F&B turnover was always below £1M, I think 900K was the largest figure I saw, 15% of that is 150K so it is not outrageously bonkers.

Furthermore Highfield road maintenance costs were approaching £1M per year and that is something Wasps mostly pay for (I've not seen any matchday cost figures, I imagine they are on top of the 100K rent, e.g stewarts/police/pitch repair/floodlight electricity).
 
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Nick

Administrator
I think they moved partially because of the limitation on crowds and rugby spend per head was nearly £7 in Wasps last accounts, football crowd spend per head is much lower (cause you can't drink in the arena).

Did Wasps have many sellouts at Adams Park?

The attendance figure will dwarf the 5,000 average gate at Adams Park, the High Wycombe ground for which the former European champions have called home for 12 years.

Adams Park has over 10k. They did use other grounds for one off big games also didn't they?

Let's not pretend they didn't move to get "new" fans.
 

Calista

Well-Known Member
To Duffer, wherever you may be :) You have argued so persuasively on this over the last couple of days that I am happy to concede that you’re more right about it than I am [Nick, is this a first for SBT?].

Look, it’s not about Wasps, it’s only about the false comparison with CCFC. The only reason I get sucked into this at all is the incessant “If you don’t oppose Wasps, you obviously support CCFC moving to another town”. It’s an illogical and offensive wind-up employed multiple times per day (not by you). I tend to snap roughly every 150 times it’s said, or 3 months whichever comes sooner.

In trying to counter that rubbish, I just try to point out that Wasps are different enough not to set a precedent. Maybe you would acknowledge that they created a right mess when they went out to a crap stadium in Wycombe for 10 years?

As a guy on that petition said “You took Wasps an hour down the M40 to the far end of a trading estate and wondered why your crowds went down”. Many of the original London fans were clearly alienated. So yes I’d be delighted if Wasps had found a place in West London, that was good for people in High Wycombe too. Brentford (popular on here) is 30 miles – if you say that’s OK I’ll take your word for it, but I thought the idea was that clubs shouldn’t move. For me it’s a no win situation, and it might explain the extraordinary failure of their supporters to get any sort of concerted protests together about the Coventry move. Why would an outsider like me conclude that a community had been ripped apart, and why would I want to argue on their behalf two years later on a web forum?

I wonder if any other sports club is in a comparable position to Wasps before they came here. For 99% of clubs (including CCFC) it’s obvious they can only play in one place. So when people trundle out the “you don’t hate Wasps, therefore you support all franchising, therefore you’d have to accept CCFC moving to another town”, I’m just never going to agree.

Like I say, you know more about rugby than me (not difficult) and you’ve obviously seen more harm done in the “West London area” than meets the eye. Fair enough, I’m not happy about that but there was going to be a lot of pain whatever they did, and IMO Wasps are a one-off. I don’t see why it paves the way for franchising in general – I sincerely hope not anyway.

Hopefully we aren’t quite so many miles apart now.
 

Astute

Well-Known Member
I think that you are getting the wrong end of it Calista.

It isn't hate for Wasps. It is a massive dislike for what those running the club have done. It is what they have done to the supporters of the club. It would be like us having hate for CCFC because of what SISU have done.

They shouldn't have moved the club so far. They shouldn't have moved it so far away from their supporters. It is worse than Wimbledon being moved to Milton Keynes. They moved much further.
 

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